SPiCE for SPACE, or S4S, aims to encourage the production of the best possible software products and services within the space industry.  Sponsor is the European Space Agency (ESA).

S4S includes an reference model based on ISO 15504 - Part 5.  The process dimension has been considerably refined to incorporate space software practices.  An extended version of SPiCE 1-2-1 supports the performance of an S4S assessment.

Four processes, approximately 50 base practices, and an even larger number of notes have been added following ESA standard requirements for the production of space software.  A documented process leads assessors step by step from Initiation to Reporting.

The new processes are:

• Contract Maintenance (CUS.5)
  
  
• Independent Software Verification & Validation (SUP.9)
  
  
• Safety and Dependability Assurance (SUP.10)
  
  
• Information Management (MAN.5)

Moreover CUS.2, Supply, is splitted into two component processes:

• Supply Preparation (CUS.2.1)
  
  
• Delivery (CUS.2.2)

In addition to the process definitions created for S4S, the work products of ISO 15504-5 have been restructured to reflect ESA specific deliverables.  Two categories of work product types have been added.  As no work product can exist without an activity, i.e. base practice, that produces it, on top of the 249 original base practices another 45 base practices are identified.

In S4S it is assumed that not all of the processes, base practices and associated work products are mandatory in any case:  The process reference model is readily tailored to the needs of a specific project, as certain process indicators are listed as a function of criticality class.

S4S contains an assessment process, which includes a step-by-step breakdown of the assessment activities, definition of key assessment roles and description of assessment input and output work products.  Following the process outlined in ISO 15504, an S4S assessment is divided into the following seven activities: Initiation, Planning, Briefing, Data Acquisition, Data Validation, Process Rating, and Reporting

S4S offers detailed guidance to assist assessors at each phase in the assessment, as experiences from the pilot assessments revealed that during the planning phase, assessors need to clearly understand the business context.  This knowledge helps to identify the key processes of an organisation or project.  Expert guidance of this type is incorporated in order to enable an efficient assessment performance.

Another important enhancement to S4S that resulted from the pilot assessments was the addition of product and process metrics.

Experiences with S4S reveal that following the ECSS Standards helps to achieve the projects goals, especially concerning the quality of the delivered product.  Furthermore, ECSS Standards are not only relevant for space projects, but also for other industrial sectors, especially for the development of embedded or safety-critical systems.

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